Hey there! My name's Lissa. I'm an actor, producer, and costume designer currently based in New York City, but raised in and around Philadelphia.

My on-camera journey began with a featured role in Season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which sparked my pursuit of professional acting. My first leading role in a feature film was in Alice-Heart, playing the titular Alice-Heart in a project created through my collective's production company, Scene 3. I was proud to also lead-produce the film, bringing it to its world premiere at Slamdance 2025, where I received the festival's Outstanding Acting Award and our team earned the festival's Narrative Feature Grand Jury Honorary Mention. Alice-Heart has since won audience awards at Mammoth Lakes and Brooklyn Film Fest, Best Local Feature at Philadelphia Film Fest, and we're excited for what’s next in the festival circuit.

As a mixed Filipino-American creative, I feel fortunate to work in a time that seeks out and champions diverse voices. Growing up in two distinct cultures taught me to appreciate the eccentric and the contradictory. With the projects I contribute to, I hope to rekindle the liberated spirit of independent, low-budget filmmaking and encourage more Gen Z artists to tell stories that are true to them, no matter how seemingly trivial or grand. I firmly believe that film sets should be environments that foster collaboration and friendship, and I aspire to contribute to a future where this outlook becomes the industry standard. 

Some of my favorite films include Goro Miyazaki's From Up on Poppy Hill, Ryuske Hamaguchi's Drive My Car, Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread, Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World, Lino Brocka's Manila in the Claws of Light, Luis Ortega's El Ángel, and Damien Chazelle's La La Land. This excessive list (because I'm indecisive and can't simply choose four), among many other movies, inspire me to continue storytelling and reaffirm my optimism in the future of the film industry. 

When I'm not acting or producing, I love studying linguistics, playing music, cooking, reading, sewing, and painting :)